Purdue University will cover "last-dollar" tuition needs for Hoosier families making up to $70,000 starting next year.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels announced the new Boiler Affordability Grant program Tuesday. Daniels said he hopes the program will open doors to more middle income families that previously thought a Purdue education was out of reach.

"Any higher education project, for a family, is a costly endeavor," Daniels said. "We're constantly looking for ways to make it affordable."

Like many "last-dollar" programs, it will cover tuition, fees and book costs after families make their expected contribution and any additional need-based aid is applied. It will not cover room and board costs.

The program will be open to Indiana students at Purdue's West Lafayette campus pursuing their first bachelor's degree and whose families meet the income threshold. It will apply to both existing students and those newly enrolled, beginning in the 2018-19 school year.

University officials are estimating about 3,000 current students would be eligible. Ted Malone, executive director of Purdue's Division of Financial Aid, said the hope is that it will also attract more high-quality Hoosier students to Purdue.

This new initiative is an extension of efforts Purdue has made, under Daniels tenure, to keep costs down. The university is in its fifth year of a tuition freeze and has also led the higher education community nationwide in income-sharing agreements as an alternative to traditional student debt.

Daniels said it's less expensive to attend Purdue now than it was five years ago and student debt is down 37 percent.

The university also has been shifting money toward need-based aid, rather than merit-based packages, Daniels said. The funding for this program will come from pooling the university's existing financial resources with money from donors and other university savings initiatives.

"We won't stop looking for ways to make certain the highest quality education available in Indiana is available at a price every family can afford," Daniels said.

Purdue has been looking for ways to increase the number of in-state students it serves on its West Lafayette campus. Daniels said the university expects it will soon have its largest-ever student body and more of them are Hoosiers. The new program will aid Purdue in this effort to a certain extent, but it will not address academic problems that have been an obstacle.

"Academic readiness is a huge problem," Daniels said. "There are too few Indiana students who are ready for what a Purdue education, in this era, requires.

"Programs like this will help us gain a larger share of those who are."